Patrick e



(No M0961.) f

P. R. WALSH.

BICYCLE SEAT SPRING. l No. 469,192. Patented Feb.'16,'1892.

UNITED v STATES PATRICK R. WALSH, OF ROCHESTER, NEV YORK, ASSIGNOR OFONE-HALE PATENT OFFICE.

TO MARY CAMPBELL, OE SAME PLACE. i

BICYCLE-SEAT SPRING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 469,192, dated February16, 1892. Application led October 12, 1891. v Serial-No. 408,494. (Nomodel.)

.T0 @ZZ wwm it may con/cern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK R. WALSH, of Rochester, in the county ofMonroe and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Bicycle-Seat Springs, which improvement is fully set forth in thefollowing specification and shown in the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to the class of springs for bicycle saddles orseat-s in which the springs are made of round steel rods, bent so as toform a yielding support for the seat, the invention being hereinafterfully described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of my improvedspring, and Fig. 2 a view of the same seen as indicated by arrow in Fig.1.

The spring I usually make of spring-steel rod, round or polygonal incross-section, onehalf inch in diameter, and bend it substantially asshown in the drawings. It is made, preferably, with a complete turnor'coil a, and successive spring bends b in its upper branch or membere, and o d in the lower branch f.

k is a tang or shank to enter the socket Z of the bicycle, to be held inthe usual man-- turn shorter than the radius i of the bend as theyrecede from the shank la to the eX- treme overhanging bend or coil a.Likewise the radius n of the bend b, between the bend a and the stem s,is greater than the radius g.

It is understood that in a spring, other things being equal, the shorterthe radius of a bend the stiffer is the bend, and in a spring of thenature of the one here shown the material of the spring at the bend a issubj ected to greater stress of lieXure when supporting the weight ofthe rider than the parts at c and d, and also the part at b; and inconstructing this spring I have distributed the spring-bends, consideredas to their relative stiffness, with reference to the points subjectedto the different degrees of stress. That is to say, the stiffest bend isplaced at the point' of greatest stress, the limberestl bend at thepoint of least stress, and the intermediate bend at lthe point in thespring where the medium stress falls.

The bends at o and fr are formed to give to the shank and stem s,respectively, their proper directions, one substantially vertical andthe other substantially horizontal, and are not designed especially asspring-bends. By this construction of the spring I render available forspring purposes all of the material from o to r, thus getting muchspring with a comparatively short piece of steel rod and within littleweight and in small space.

The bends b and c are preferably made of the same radius and formed soas to quite clearly approach each other as to vertical distance; butthese bends are laterally offset from each other to occupy differentvertical planes, on account of which there is no danger of theircolliding when from an unusual ca'use-as, for instance, from the wheelsuddenly rolling upon or over somelarge body in its Way-the spring iscaused to yield momentarily in excess under the unusual stress broughtto bear upon it.

Vhat I claim as my invention is- 1. A bicycle-saddle spring formed ofround or polygonal rod, having an extreme coil or bend a andspring-bends c, d, and b near the coil, with shank and stem,substantially as shown.

2. A spring for the saddle of a bicycle, formed Wit-h spring-bends d, c,and a, shank k, and stem s, the radii of said spring-bends decreasing inlength from the shank outward, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

3. A bicyclesaddle spring formed with spring-bends d, c, and a, withshank la and stem s, and a spring-bend b between the bend a and thestem, said bend b having a radius greater than the radius of the bend a,substantially as described.

4. A bicycle-saddle spring formed with a spring bend or coil a and abend b in its up- -per branch and a bend c in its lower branch,

said bends b and c being made substantially In Witness whereof I havehereunto set my hand, this 28th day of September, 1891, in the presenceof two subscribing Witnesses.

PATRICK R. WALSH.

5 toward and near each other and laterally off- Vlitnesses:

set in different vertical planes, substantially ENOS B. VVHITMORE, asshown and described M. L. MCDERMOTT.

